1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup terminal, such as a cellular phone equipped with a camera, which enables to install, set or rewrite an application for setting shutter sounds or shutter sound data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there has been a surge in the popularity of camera equipped portable terminals, e.g., cellular phones having internally mounted image pickup devices, including digital cameras, and the use of portable terminal mounted cameras for surreptitious photography practices has spread and has become a social problem.
Thus, to resolve this problem, it is common for a cellular phone having an internally mounted camera to provide aural notification within a surrounding area of imaging in that vicinity, by emitting an appropriately high volume sound when the shutter of the camera is generated, regardless of the setting of a manner mode, for example. This is also a designated carrier specification for cellular phones.
Further, data for a shutter release sound for imaging is selectable at a setup stage. But at the present, the shutter sound choices are fixed, so that presently, only predesignated sound data can be selected by a user.
Therefore, regardless of which sound data a user selects, a shutter sound having a satisfactory volume is always emitted when an image is picked up, so that notification can be provided for a surrounding area that the user is imaging in that vicinity.
The use has also spread of portable terminals mounting platforms such as BREW, iαappli, Vappli, Microsoft Smartphone, Linux and Symbian that permit users, in accordance with their tastes, to install various additional application software products.
Thus, additional application software for controlling the camera function can be used in accordance with the judgements of the users.
As example apparatuses constituted so as to release a shutter sound at the time an image is picked up, the following first to seventh apparatuses have been proposed.
The first apparatus is an image pickup terminal, such as an electronic still camera that normally releases a mechanical shutter sound that is not, or is only faintly, audible, for which sound is used to output an imaging start and end time that enables a user to apprehend the shutter time by intuition (see, for example, JP-A-2003-338956).
The second apparatus is a cellular phone that can use, as a shutter sound, sound data obtained from a server via a network.
The third apparatus is a recording/reproduction apparatus that can rewrite, using a memory card, a camera control program that includes data for a shutter sound.
The fourth apparatus is a digital camera that can download shutter sound data from a server and change the setup.
The fifth apparatus is a portable terminal that can download an accessory application from a network.
The sixth apparatus is a system that supports, by remote control, an electronic device, such as a digital camera, and provides a digital camera diagnosis application via a network.
The seventh apparatus is a cellular phone that can provide applications, for example, via a network.
JP-A-2003-338956 is referred to as a related art.
It is predicted that the above described sound data for shutter sounds will probably be available to users via the Internet, or an external device, for employment as added sound choices.
In this case, the possibility exists that a user will choose to select and set sound data that are inappropriate for the intended purpose of providing notification within a surrounding area that the user is imaging in that vicinity.
Furthermore, a camera-mounted portable terminal, on which one of the above described platforms is mounted, may be employed by additionally installing camera application software that does not emit a shutter sound during an imaging process, or that can be used for a setup to prevent the emission of a shutter sound.